ACC Accord Summer 2021 Issue 111

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Meeting ACCEnT Forum Members
by Leroy Harley
was born in Hackney, East
I London in 1958, I am the third
oldest of a family of eight, five boys,
sadly one died 15 years ago, and
three girls. I am a father of five,
two boys and three girls. I have
been married for over 30 years to
a wonderful woman. My first job
after leaving school was in a bank.
I was a youth worker for about 30
years, both full and part time. My
last job was as a teaching assistant
in a special needs school, which I
think was the job that I enjoyed the
most. Sadly, I had to retire in 2019,
the flip side is that I get to do more
of what I enjoy, such as, counselling,
riding my bike, walking, reading,
and spending time with my 11 year
old girl. I used to enjoy playing
badminton, but an injury put paid
to that.
I got into counselling by accident.
I found out from friends that I was
a good listener. I was listening to
friends in the hope this would
help me find solutions to some
of the issues I was going through,
sadly that was not the case.
Someone suggested that I do a
basic counselling course, which
I enjoyed, learning that I was a
good listener, enjoyed listening to
people and that I did not have to
have all the answers. I went on to
do a level 2/3 Christian counselling
course. Through that course I learnt
more about myself, including that
sometimes I chose to help others
as a way of not looking too hard
at the issues I was going through.
One thing I noticed was that race
was never even mentioned or
discussed on the course. At the end
of this course, which my church
paid for, they set up a counselling
service, which I have been part
of since 2009. It took a further 10
years for me to take my Diploma in
counselling and psychotherapy.
“race could only
be discussed if we as
black people raised
the subject
One of the things that annoyed me
was that looking at the programme
for the two-year course was that
race was on the agenda twice over
the two years. According to some of
the white students, race could only
be discussed if we as black people
raised the topic. This also meant the
issue of race was not discussed with
their black clients. They said they
did not see colour and only saw the
issue that the clients came in with.
I became very concerned about the
black clients they had and would
encounter. As by denying their race
you are denying who they are and
that means you are denying me.
In May 2020 I, along with others,
watched in horror the murder of
George Floyd on TV. Several things
flooded my thoughts, such as my
parents’ treatment when they
arrived in this country in 1957, my
harassment by police as a young
man, the counselling course and
what my white colleagues had said,
the murders of others at the hands
of the police or where the police
investigations had been poor, both
in this country and America, such
as Cherry Groce, Cynthia Jarrett,
www.acc-uk.org • www.pastoralcareuk.org accord Summer 2021
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